Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman Steps Down from Universal Music Board, Citing ‘Increasing Demands on His Time’

Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, who’s exited the Universal Music board, testifying before Congress.

Bill Ackman has officially stepped down from the Universal Music Group (UMG) board, citing “increasing demands on his time.”

The Pershing Square Capital Management head confirmed that departure in a brief release, with UMG having put out a concise disclosure of its own.

Per the former announcement, the aforementioned demands pertain to Ackman’s “other Pershing Square commitments,” among them his recent appointment as executive chairman of Howard Hughes Holdings’ own board.

(Said appointment coincided with a $900 million Pershing Square investment in Howard Hughes Holdings. Apparently, the latter intends to branch out beyond real estate and begin operating as a “diversified holding company.”)

At the time of this writing, Ackman didn’t appear to have addressed his UMG board exit (which is effective following the business’s annual investor meeting today) on X. However, the 59-year-old in a statement touted the “superb leadership” of Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge.

“Over the last three years,” Ackman communicated, “I have greatly enjoyed being a director of UMG as it has transitioned from a private company into a flourishing public enterprise.

“The company is extremely well positioned for future growth and profitability under the superb leadership of Sir Lucian Grainge and the entire UMG team. I am grateful to my fellow directors for their continued commitment to driving long-term value for all shareholders,” he concluded.

Beyond these enthusiastic parting remarks, it’s worth reiterating that Pershing in March sold some of its Universal Music stake – with existing UMG investor Tencent having upped its interest in the major that same month.

And besides the much-discussed streaming plateau (at least in terms of core financials, UMG’s faring relatively well here), Ackman’s board exit follows Pershing Square’s public push to shift Universal Music’s main stock listing from Amsterdam to the States.

UMG brass bristled at the not-so-subtle suggestion, and as things stand, it doesn’t appear that the major plans to make the jump. Nevertheless, Pershing still has the right – one it will seemingly exercise – to spearhead a separate Universal Music listing in the U.S.

That sub-listing is presumably moving forward and, according to reports, is expected to commence sometime before mid-September 2025.

More immediately, Universal Music (now preparing to add Verizon vet Matt Ellis as CFO on June 9th) saw its stock price slip during today’s trading. Once again at the time of writing, shares were down about 2.4% at $29.52/€26.35 apiece.

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